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Table 1 Overall study characteristics

From: The impact on quality of life from informing diagnosis in patients with cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Study origin

Journal

Country

Financial support

Length of follow-up

Sample size (exposure VS non-exposure)

Study design

Interventions (exposure VS non-exposure)

Cancer type

Quality of life assessment scale

Level of education (illiterate/primary/middle/college) (exposure VS non-exposure)

Age /years* (exposure VS non-exposure)

Noritoshi 1998 [8]

The Japan Society of Clinical Oncology

Japan

No report

1992.11 ~ 1997

23VS21

Cohort study

Truth-Disclosed VS Truth-Concealed

Gastrointestinal and Liver Cancer

Functional Living Index Cancer (FLIC)

Not report

59(54 ~ 63) VS 62(56 ~ 67)

H. Bozcuk 2001 [9]

Support Care Cancer

Turkey

Not report

Not report

56VS44

Cohort study

Aware of diagnosis VS Not aware of diagnosis

Gastrointestinal and Breast Cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

Not report

Not report

Jianjun Zou 2006 [10]

Chinese Journal of Oncology

China

Not report

2003.1 ~ 2004.2

69VS41

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition and partly aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Gastrointestinal, Breast, Lung, and other Cancer

FACT-G

35/41/34/0

58 ± 12

Zhenjing Liu 2006 [11]

Journal of Psychiatry

China

No report

2005.3 ~ 2005.9

60VS64

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Unknown

EORTC QLQ-C30

Not report

48 ± 12

Xiuling Wang 2006 [12]

Journal of QiLu Nursing

China

Not report

1995.1–2006.1

40VS40

Cohort study

Disclosed nursingVS Concealed nursing (disclose the truth to experiment group but conceal the truth to control group)

Liver cancer

SF-36 scale

Not report

Not report

Alexandra 2006 [13]

Progress in Palliative Care

Portugal

Not report

Not report

163VS75

Cohort study

Aware of diagnosis VS Not aware of diagnosis

Gastrointestinal, Breast, Lung, and other Cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

Not report

59.3 ± 12.4VS 70.0 ± 9.9

Liping Zhao 2007 [14]

Journal of Nursing Science

China

Not report

2002.8 ~ 2003.1

54VS11

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Liver cancer

QLS-PLC

1/10/37/17

49.3 ± 13.6

Fang Ding 2008 [15]

Chinese Nursing Research

China

Not report

2004 ~ 2006

85VS47

Cohort study

Disclosed nursing VS Concealed nursing

Unknown

GQOLI −74

Not report

18 ~ 76

Lianxue Zheng 2009 [16]

Journal of Shanxi Medical College for Continuing Education

China

Yes

2008.4 ~ 2008.7

83VS42

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition and partly aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Gastrointestinal cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

0/13/103/4

57.70(28 ~ 83)

Ruihong Kong 2009 [17]

Today Nurse

China

Not report

2005.10 ~ 2007.12

115VS137

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Unknown

QLQ-CCC

Not report

Not report

Zhaoxia Li 2009 [18]

Clinical Focus

China

Yes

2005 ~ 2008

87VS34

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Lung cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

39/45/37/0

51.0 ± 14.1

Ali 2009 [19]

BMC Cancer

Iran

No

2005.11 ~ 2006.4

68VS74

Cohort study

Informed of the diagnosis VS uninformed of the diagnosis

Gastrointestinal cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

23/28/9/8 VS 55/15/3/1

50.2 ± 13.9 VS 58.2 ± 13.4

Xue Xu 2011 [20]

Master’ Thesis of Shandong University

China

Not report

2010.6 ~ 2011.4

83VS37

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition and partly aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Unknown

EORTC QLQ-C30

Not report

55(26 ~ 78)

Xiaoping Fan 2011 [21]

Journal of Palliative Medicine

China

Yes

2009.12 ~ 2010.07

86VS87

Cohort study

Aware of diagnosis VS Not aware of diagnosis

Gastrointestinal, Urogenital, Lung and other cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

5/26/37/18 VS 11/38/26/12

59.35 ± 11.60 VS 62.90 ± 12.20

Yuqian Sun 2012 [22]

Chinese Journal of Behavioral Medicine and Brain Science

China

Yes

2010.12 ~ 2011.8

62VS68

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Gastrointestinal cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

Not report

54.18 ± 15.51 VS 55.73 ± 14.96

Jie Luo 2012 [23]

Cancer Research on Prevention and Treatment

China

No report

2007.6 ~ 2007.12

93VS22

Cohort study

Totally informed of the diagnosis and partly informed the diagnosis VS totally uninformed of the diagnosis

Lung cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

0/34/63/18

#

Lina Wang 2013 [24]

Journal of Nurses Training

China

Not report

2012.1 ~ 2012.12

89VS98

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Gastrointestinal cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

Not report

30.9 ± 11.3 VS 31.1 ± 11.0

Liping Fu 2013 [25]

Chinese Journal of Gerontology

China

Not report

2007 ~ 2012

100VS100

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Lung cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

Not report

73.5 ± 15.8

Zaili Feng 2014 [26]

Anti-Tumor Pharmacy

China

Not report

Not report

352VS68

Cohort study

Informed of the diagnosis VS uninformed of the diagnosis

Gastrointestinal, Breast, Lung, and other Cancer

Jiacheng Li Foundation for Hospice Plan Quality Life Scale)

Not report

48.0 ± 19.1 VS

49.7 ± 18.2

Yuanling Li 2014 [27]

International Journal of Nursing

China

Not report

2011.12 ~ 2013.12

30VS30

Cohort study

Disclosed nursing VS Concealed nursing

Liver cancer

SF-36 scale

Not report

54.3 ± 19.4 VS 51.4 ± 17.9

Nobuhisa 2015 [28]

American Journal of Hospice & Palliative Medicine

Japan

Not report

2004.4 ~ 2008.3

15VS10

Cohort study

Informed VS uninformed

Gastrointestinal, Liver and Breast Cancer

STAS-J scale

Not report

72.8 + 11.8

Bo Yang 2015 [29]

Hainan Medical Journal

China

Not report

2012.9 ~ 2013.9

30VS63

Cohort study

Totally aware of the condition VS Totally unaware of the condition

Gastrointestinal, Breast, Lung, and other Cancer

EORTC QLQ-C30

9/21/0/0

69.80 ± 5.11 VS 71.95 ± 5.45

Ruifen Zhang 2016 [30]

Journal of Clinical Medical Literature

China

Not report

2005.2–2005.10

36VS36

Cohort study

Disclosed nursing VS Concealed nursing

Liver cancer

SF-36 scale

Not report

49.5 ± 0.8 VS 48.1 ± 1.9